


Send in that sunshine (cause baby I’m coming by)

by dearericbittle (dutchmoxie)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), Barbecue, Bonfires, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, Party, Stiles Stilinski Knows About Werewolves, beach party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:14:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25514842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dutchmoxie/pseuds/dearericbittle
Summary: The annual Hale Bonfire and BBQ was for pack and significant others only. Stiles thought he’d pretty damn significant in keeping Scott alive. But apparently that didn’t count. Not that Stiles was going to let some asshole wolf keep him from hanging out with his best friend. At some point his persistence had to pay off, right?
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 50
Kudos: 656
Collections: A Very Sterek Summer fest 2020





	Send in that sunshine (cause baby I’m coming by)

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic for the A Very Sterek Summer event, for the prompt Beach.

Stiles hadn’t technically been invited to the annual Hale Bonfire and BBQ. But Scotty was going to be there, and if the Hale family didn’t know by now that Stiles and Scott were totally a package deal, then Stiles was just going to have to use this very moment to enlighten them. 

He never got enough time with his best friend, especially since they were going off to college in a matter of weeks. And unlike what people had expected (and what Stiles had secretly been hoping for), they were going to separate colleges. In separate states even, because Scott had decided at the last minute that he was going to follow his girlfriend to Washington State, while Stiles was going to Caltech in California. 

All because that was where Allison was going. 

Allison had actually been invited to the bonfire. Because apparently there was a non-wolf exception for significant others, but not for the more platonic soulmates. 

Yes, that meant Stiles. What? Scotty was totally his platonic soulmate. Stiles didn’t even want to consider boning him (because it was Scott), and if Scott had to pick a dude, he totally would have picked Isaac and not Stiles. 

He knew things, okay. Like, the tension that came with an inevitable threesome. 

Not that he knew any of it from any actual experience. He’d only ever been with Malia, and that hadn’t lasted very long – not long enough for him to nab an invite to the bonfire, anyway. And he wasn’t enough of an asshole to keep dating her just for that. 

But that didn’t matter, because Stiles was totally going to join the party anyway. 

“This is private property,” a voice called out just as he snuck over the hill. 

The sun was high in the sky still, even though it was almost dinner time, and so bright that Stiles was starting to have a little trouble seeing who was in front of him. Sure, he could see the silhouette of the man who was talking to him, and he could tell the man was wearing jeans and not much else - but he couldn’t quite see who it was. 

Was it a Hale? Was it one of the partners? One of the spouses slash significant others? It was impossible to tell, and it was even more impossible to tell if the person in front of him was a werewolf - which was kind of important to know. It informed his approach, so to say. 

“It’s a public beach,” Stiles had to argue. 

There were no ‘keep out’ signs, and this was California. Private beaches weren’t really a thing, not that he knew of anyway. The Hales might have been one of the most prominent families in the area - and definitely the most prominent werewolves (as far as Stiles knew, because no one would tell him if there were other werewolves in town that he needed to steer clear of) - but that just made it even less likely that they could own property without the entirety of Beacon Hills knowing everything about it. The people would know if the Hales owned a beach. 

“Not where you’re standing,” the guy was not going to let this go. “You passed the property line a little under a minute ago. I heard you almost trip over your own feet.” 

So the stranger was a werewolf? Because Stiles had been doing pretty well on the stealth check, and there was no way that anyone human would have heard his fumbling over the sound of the chatter and the seagulls. Ergo: the stranger was a werewolf. It didn’t tell Stiles anything about whether the stranger was a Hale or one of the spouses, but it was something. 

It was an in, something that he could totally use. He just didn’t know how yet. Maybe…

“I’m very graceful,” Stiles decided to go with it and batted his eyelashes at the stranger. 

It had absolutely nothing to do with the way the sun just kept trying to blind him and the way he’d somehow managed to lose another pair of sunglasses somewhere along the way. No, he was leaning into the flirtation angle, even though it had never worked for him before. 

“You’re not,” the stranger said matter-of-factly. 

“That’s just rude,” Stiles shook his head mockingly. “Didn’t your mom teach you not to insult strangers for no reason? I’ve been perfectly nice to you.” 

This was where the stranger took offense to him saying something about his Mom, and hopefully revealed some information about himself in the process. If he mentioned Talia Hale, Stiles knew this was one of the Hale brood. One of many, but at least Stiles could strike Laura and Cora Hale from the list. Because they were girls - women - and also because he’d met them both a ton of times before and so he knew what they looked like. 

The rest of the pack apparently wasn’t interested in meeting the reason that Scott had figured out the whole werewolf thing. The person who’d kept Scott alive until he became pack. 

“You’re on our property,” the stranger just refused to play along. “Without our permission.” 

Ugh, this just wasn’t helping at all. He wasn’t seeing another way into the party, not while he had to go around this guy, and he wasn’t even getting any useful information that he could use to make another attempt later, from another angle. An angle that didn’t involve a grumpy dude he didn’t recognize treating him like a damn criminal. 

Stiles wasn’t a criminal, he was the Sheriff’s son. 

And yeah, technically those things weren’t mutually exclusive, something Stiles enjoyed taking advantage of from time to time. But still, he could play the dutiful son until they actually called his Dad. 

“Do I have to say please?” Stiles asked, figuring he could give it a shot. 

“Family only,” the rude stranger wasn’t even giving him an inch, so Stiles could take a mile. 

Damn it, he needed that mile. For Scott. For their friendship. For the sake of bro bonds all around the world. For world peace. 

Yeah, maybe that last bit had gone a bit too far. 

“Is Scott family?” Stiles was not going to make it easy for him to be removed from the party - of course he wasn’t. “Are you cousins? Are you the cousin Miguel I still haven’t met?” 

Scott had a cousin Miguel, and even though Stiles and Scott had been friends for ages, Stiles had yet to meet this elusive cousin. Not that this stranger was going to give a damn about it, but it did wonders for Stiles’ mood to have this little inside joke with himself. 

“That’s me,” the stranger kept a straight face. “Cousin Miguel.” 

Stiles was moving a little, trying to find a way that he could actually see the stranger properly, so that he at least knew who to avoid when he made his next attempt. With a few steps to the side, he’d managed to put himself in a position where the asshole stranger was actually blocking the sun, allowing Stiles to see more of him, ridiculous abs and biceps included. 

The stranger had dark hair and eyes that somehow weren’t any normal color. More like a mix of colors that had Stiles wanting to say something about a kaleidoscope - until he took proper notice of the very, very serious eyebrows that the stranger was rocking. 

Those eyebrows were clearly the reason why this guy wasn’t fun at all. Because they screamed ‘murder brows’ to Stiles - like he was made of anger and frustration and not into being nice to a stranger.

“You’re a terrible liar,” Stiles huffed at him. “Though you kind of look like a Miguel.” 

Did he, though? What did a Miguel look like? Scott would know. Maybe Stiles could get into the party already so he could ask him. But no, asshole stranger wasn’t allowing that. 

“Please leave,” the stranger wouldn’t indulge him in any way. 

For the time being, Stiles was out of options. Making a tactical retreat and trying again later seemed like the only sensible choice, and while Stiles usually hated being perfectly sensible, he decided to push those feelings aside for now while he focused on getting the hell away from Mister Murder Brows over here. Seriously, did those brows make him pre-destined to become a murderer of some kind? Was the stranger a serial killer? Was Stiles in danger?

Had Stiles forgotten his Adderall again? That was definitely a yes. 

“Fine,” Stiles huffed, not seeing another way. “Because you said please.” 

That was clearly a lie, and both Stiles and the strange werewolf knew it. There was a flare of the guy’s nostrils as he processed the lie, and Stiles just backed the hell away. Slowly, and facing the stranger - because he’d learned the hard way that turning one’s back to an angry werewolf didn’t exactly work out well for the fragile human involved. 

Still, it was kind of awkward, walking backwards in the sand with a werewolf watching his every move. There were some definite prey instincts going off, but Stiles was doing his very best to ignore those. He’d gotten a lot of practice with that, whenever Scott did something stupid. 

Which happened pretty much weekly. 

The standoff hadn’t gotten any less awkward though, because the stranger was still watching him far too closely, as if he expected Stiles to make a run for it if he didn’t watch. And clearly Stiles was not athletic enough to successfully attempt that. 

Someone else on the beach appeared to be moving closer to the property line - looking for the asshole werewolf stranger, perhaps? 

“Derek?” A woman shouted. 

The stranger - Derek, apparently - turned around, glancing back at Stiles periodically to make sure that he was actually leaving. 

He never would. Let this Derek guy think he’d won. For now. 

* * *

The second attempt was a lot better than the first. Stiles had found the high ground - literally and perhaps even metaphorically - leaving him to look down on the Hale family and their guests, the scent of delicious burgers and other barbecue foods wafting in his nose. 

Shit, he was getting really hungry. He thought he’d have gotten in by now, and that he’d be shoveling food into his mouth while Scott macked on Allison a little. 

It wasn’t like he’d expected to be spending all his time at the bonfire with Scott. That would have just been unrealistic. No, he’d planned on using the rest of his time to eat truly magnificent amounts of food and hide from Talia Hale, because she was the only one who could intimidate him into going back home. And Peter Hale, because he was creepy. 

Still, it hadn’t been as easy as he thought, and now he had to keep trying. Even though he didn’t really have a back-up plan. He’d managed to get himself to this look-out point by sheer luck, and he hadn’t yet figured out the way down. Though it gave him an excellent opportunity to observe people, and to figure out their movement and patterns.

Yeah, this was totally a tactical decision. 

Fuck, he knew he should have scoped out the area before just showing up earlier. 

“Derek, stop hiding,” Laura hollered at one of the unknown guys. “You can’t spend the entire party hiding from uncle Peter. I promise I’ll protect you.” 

Stiles could see Laura, slowly making her way towards him - or towards whoever was hiding underneath the natural outcropping that he was hiding on top of. She was wearing a sundress with a ridiculously colorful print, and had a drink in her hand that was probably alcoholic, judging by the jaunty umbrella she’d planted in it. 

Even though werewolves supposedly couldn’t get drunk. He supposed she just liked the taste. 

Or the umbrella. 

“It’s not Peter I’m hiding from,” the dude named Derek was sulking right below Stiles, it seemed. 

It was definitely the same Derek who’d chased him off before. Sure, it was a common name, but it was the exact same frustrated tone of voice. Stiles could tell, even though he couldn’t see Derek at all from his current position. Same brooding, same guy. 

“Who are you hiding from?” Laura was astute as always. 

“That new guy Scott brought his girlfriend,” Derek actually sounded like he was pouting. 

New guy? This asshole was calling Scott a new guy? Even though Scott had been around the pack for a few  _ years _ now? Stiles would have hated to see what a truly new pack member would be in Derek’s eyes. Or a truly old one. Because if two to three years was still new, old would have to be at least a couple decades past retirement. 

Not that Stiles had ever seen any geriatric werewolves. Was there such a thing? 

“Scott’s not even new anymore,” Laura was laughing in Derek’s face. “Just because you went to a fancy East Coast college and you hated us too much to come home regularly for the past few years, doesn’t mean that the pack isn’t allowed to change in your absence. We’re allowed to add members, especially teenagers who were bitten by accident. And I don’t want to hear you being a dick to Allison. She is lovely and fierce and she loves that dork.” 

Maybe Stiles should have been offended at that description of Scott, but he was too busy silently applauding Laura’s epic speech. And it wasn’t like he’d be able to convincingly deny that Scott was a total dork and doofus. Because he really, really was. 

Especially when it came to Allison. 

“She’s one of them,” Derek growled, and Stiles shivered. 

“You can’t keep judging the entire family, Der-Bear,” Laura sighed. “You can’t judge people based on their relatives. If that were true, we’d all be judged because of Peter.” 

Sometimes Stiles judged the entire Hale family based on their willingness to continue to associate with Peter Hale. There was something so very off about him, in the ‘mostly friendly sociopath’ kind of way that made the hairs on the back of Stiles’ neck stand up. And knowing that he was also a werewolf who could tear Stiles apart without breaking a sweat? Fucking terrifying and enough to make him question the entire family’s sanity. 

Though it seemed that Laura at least wasn’t her uncle’s biggest fan. 

“Judging by the look on your face,” Laura continued, “that one landed. Good. I’ll give you five minutes before I make someone come here and drag you back to the party. By their fangs.” 

It was really, really hard not to laugh at the mental image that popped into Stiles’ head at Laura’s words. Just picturing a beta-shifted were dragging Derek through the sand by whatever limb they’d managed to attach their fangs to. Or even Alpha Talia Hale shifting into an actual wolf - Scotty had told him that she could do that - and dragging her son/cousin/relative along. 

Wait, where did Derek fit in with the Hale family? 

“You’re a terrible person,” Derek huffed. 

“You love me,” Laura responded, before walking away. “Everyone does. Even Stiles.” 

Well,  _ fuck _ . Laura had figured out that he was here - clearly, otherwise she never would have mentioned his name in front of Derek - and she was determined to either ruin his fun completely or to mess with both him and Derek at the same time. 

So maybe Derek was Laura’s younger brother, the one he hadn’t met because he was off at NYU. Stiles could have sworn that guy was named either Eric or Darren, though. 

“What the hell is a Stiles?” Derek muttered to himself. 

The Stiles in question let out a panicked snicker, and then quickly shoved his hand over his mouth. Of course it was already far too late by then, he’d ruined his own surprise. Or at least, he’d burned his perfect hiding spot and any second now Derek was going to climb up here to tell him to get lost again. Or possibly flash some fang and scare him off. 

Not that such a thing ever scared Stiles. He’d helped Scott through his first full moon. He’d seen the most dick-ish side of his best friend, he’d seen the fangs and claws and the transformation that had only been terrifying the first time. Now he thought of it as kind of hilarious, the way Scott’s facial features got all weird and he looked a bit like the vampires on Buffy, golden eyes and all. He wasn’t allowed to mention that around Scott, however. 

Apparently his best friend was kind of sensitive about it. 

Speaking of sensitive, the brooding Derek (Hale?) was probably moving to find him right about now. Stiles wondered if he shouldn’t just run away instead of staying in position and waiting for Derek to find him. Though if he let himself be caught so easily, maybe Derek was going to underestimate him next time. And it was a great way to get information on him. 

Derek’s hands came into view first, then the rest of his arms. And those were some arms. Nice arms to have, as Buffy would say (if he was sticking with that reference). Strong and covered in dark hairs, with muscles that Stiles was both kind of jealous of and wanted to put his hands and mouth all over. He wanted to trace the veins with his tongue. 

“Holy hell,” Stiles wasn’t even ashamed about his drooling. 

Because the torso was even better. Sure, Stiles had been able to look at him a little before, but seeing Derek in action was a whole other ballgame. Those muscles were working very hard as Derek pulled himself up - and he still managed to make it look easy. 

“You again,” Derek returned, managing to look both angry and bashful at the same time. 

The anger was understandable, but the bashfulness? Sure it was adorable, but it didn’t really make a lot of sense. What reason would a badass werewolf have to feel bashful? Because his older sister embarrassed him? Laura embarrassed everyone, he really wasn’t special in that respect. Because of the nickname? Because of the comments about Scott? Why?

“Hi Der-Bear,” Stiles waved at Derek, feeling a little dorky but leaning in to the feeling. 

“How long have you been up here?” Derek advanced even more. “What did you hear?” 

Was that what he was worried about? What Stiles could have overheard? Because honestly, Stiles really didn’t hear anything too incriminating. There was no new information, not really, because Stiles knew that Allison’s family was kind of fucked up and super anti-werewolves, going so far as to actively hunt and kill them sometimes. So yeah, it made sense for Derek to be at least a little apprehensive of them. Possibly even more than a little. 

“Just the usual,” Stiles tried to be cool with his casual shrug. “Your awesome nickname, people getting bitten for the wrong reasons, Laura threatening you with fangs… Nothing special.” 

Like he said, nothing special. Nothing that Derek had to worry about, anyway. Because for some reason that idiot was worried about something, even though he was trying very hard to play it cool in front of Stiles. Even though Stiles was probably the one who had to worry about not being cool, with the very blatant drooling he’d been doing before. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t gotten called out on that. Not that he had any shame about what he did. 

“She’s my sister,” Derek shrugged, because he was apparently just trying too hard to be cool. 

“That explains the nickname,” Stiles nodded sagely. “Though I’m pretty sure bears aren’t your spirit animal. Ugh, no, I hate that term. But you get what I mean. You’re not the bear type. I think you’re something a little more… lupine. Yeah, you’ve got wolf energy.” 

Judging by the response that got from Derek, the idiot was worried that Stiles would figure out their secret. Which was dumb, because Stiles had known about werewolves basically forever already, and if Derek had bothered to get to know Stiles - or just to visit home sometimes - he would have found out that Stiles was basically pack already. That he knew more about being a wolf than Scott did - which probably wasn’t saying all that much. 

Still, it gave him an opportunity to troll Derek, and he was totally up for that. 

“I mean, this is just like Twilight,” Stiles continued, making a most dramatic face as if he was just figuring that out now. “Shirtless beach parties with supernaturally hot people. No one’s glittering and sparkling in the sun, so I’m assuming there’s no vampires allowed. Which leaves…” 

Werewolves. It left werewolves, like all of the idiots who were currently eating and having fun while Stiles was still here with the grumpiest wolf in the pack. And Derek knew that far too well, no matter how much he tried to deny it. 

“Twilight?” Derek was actually trying to pretend he’d never heard of it before. 

Cute. It wouldn’t have been cute on anyone else, but it was cute on Derek. Mostly because he was really fucking awful at lying. Probably because he didn’t need to do that much - everyone around him could always just tell if he was telling the truth. But apparently Derek didn’t hold the lie detecting skills of humans in very high esteem, because this was just way beyond obvious. Anyone could tell he was lying, even Deputy Haigh. And that man was willfully blind. 

“Picture me as the pale ingenue with the Sheriff father,” Stiles wasn’t ashamed of his own acting skills. “Now, I don’t have a stalker vampire boyfriend - because while I don’t mind a little biting in the bedroom, I draw the line at actual bloodsucking.” 

All completely true, and Derek could tell that he wasn’t lying. Which just made it so much better - Stiles wasn’t ashamed of his kinks, but he could tell that Derek really didn’t want to put two and two together here. Stiles would so totally be down to date a werewolf. Or to fuck one or be fucked by one. Derek would be an excellent candidate if he was in any way interested. 

He wasn’t, because he was too busy trying to pretend that there was no such thing as werewolves. 

“Why are you telling me this?” Derek was so hilariously uncomfortable. 

“Because you’re still here, listening,” Stiles grinned smugly at him. “And because you’re still not letting me into the party. I know there’s a significant other exception, so how about you be my sexy werewolf love interest? You already have the ridiculous abs. So you just have to learn to turn into an actual wolf. I’m sure that’s a piece of cake.” 

Because several of the Hales were able to do that. Talia could, and Stiles was pretty sure that Laura could as well. So it wouldn’t surprise him if Derek had that ability as well - not that he was ever going to admit to it in front of Stiles. Especially not since Stiles had just offered himself as Derek’s fake date to this party - which would have been the perfect solution if Derek hadn’t been determined to not put everything together and realize that Stiles already knew. 

“Please leave,” Derek couldn’t even look at him anymore. 

“I like it when you say please, big guy,” Stiles winked at him before turning around and walking away. “I’m sure you can find me if you change your mind.” 

This attempt hadn’t worked, but that didn’t mean that Stiles was done. 

* * *

If approaching the issue head-on wasn’t going to work, Stiles was happy to try something a lot more sneaky. Not that sneaking into the party couldn’t be qualified as sneaky - if it had been successful anyway - but this was just on a whole new level. 

He felt a bit like a spy, gathering intel on his adversary. Or his target. 

Did that last one sound like he was going to seduce Derek? Because he wished he could. 

Still, he was going to need a lot more intel for that, which was why he was approaching his contact on the inside. Not Scott, of course, because he was far too distracted by his pack and his girlfriend - which Stiles had figured out after the third time he’d called him within a five minute window. He’d gotten voicemail every time, and that had made him decide to go for the clearly superior contact - the one who might actually want to talk to him. 

“Laura,” Stiles was thrilled when she actually picked up. 

“I can’t believe you actually let my brother out of your sight,” the Alpha-to-be sounded far too happy about that development. “I think he’s still blushing. But he hasn’t talked to Mom yet, or to anyone really. He really could have just asked if they knew you.” 

Well, that answered some of his questions. Clearly Laura had been spying on them at least a little bit. Stiles already knew that she’d known he was there pretty much the whole time, which meant that she wasn’t actively discouraging him from finding a way into the party. She was probably going to be happy to have him once he’d gotten in, but she also wasn’t going to actively help him either. Something about plausible deniability and obeying her mother’s orders and following rules and all that boring stuff. It was kind of disappointing. 

Still, she might give him some clues or information to work with. 

“He pretended not to know what Twilight was,” Stiles had to tell her that much. 

“Don’t we all wish we could forget about it?” Laura was right and she should say it. “The imprinting alone was enough to make me want to bleach my brain. Not that something like that would work on a werewolf. I think. Sadly. I wish it would.” 

This was why Stiles got along so well with Laura. Because she definitely possessed the Hale sass - unlike Derek, it seemed - and she didn’t have any problems with offending people with her strong opinions. Which was right up Stiles’ alley, that and the way she usually didn’t give a damn about rules. She enjoyed playing pranks on people nearly as much as Stiles did, and she was clever enough to foist the blame off onto someone else. And when that someone else wasn’t Stiles, he was completely fine with that. 

“He was trying very hard to hide the secret,” Stiles had to give him that much. “He deserves a you tried star, because he was really fucking terrible at it. I’d hate to tell him, but I don’t think his future lies in the theater. Or on the big screen. No matter his ridiculous good looks and those abs that I’d like to see on every screen. Especially a big one.” 

Stiles checked the corners of his mouth for drool. Because Derek just kind of had that effect on him, and talking about his physique just made it so much worse. It probably wasn’t fair to talk about that with his sister, but Stiles had to share it with someone. Scott wouldn’t have wanted to hear it either, which almost made it seem normal. Almost. 

“Down, boy,” Laura sounded a little less amused now. 

“He didn’t want me to be his fake date, Laura,” Stiles pouted, even though Laura couldn’t see it through the phone. “I’m heartbroken. I’m going to need chocolate and ice cream and sappy movies. And my best friend, to comfort me. But I can’t have that, can I?” 

Scott was usually pretty okay about watching stupid movies with them, because honestly, Scott was the bigger romantic out of the two of them. Or just the one who believed in love at first sight, while Stiles thought that it was more a sign that you could potentially fall for this person, or a warning that you were going to, and soon. He didn’t believe in just seeing someone and immediately deciding that they were the one. That was all Scott. 

Still, it meant they both enjoyed a decent amount of the same movies, and if he wasn’t going to get Scott to watch Star Wars with him (and yes, that did make Scott a terrible friend), they were at least going to watch some rom coms together. 

Wait, what was he talking about again? 

“You know the rules, Stiles,” Laura sighed. 

“The rules are bullshit,” Stiles huffed. 

Look, he totally got how important it was that the wolf secret identity stayed secret, but seeing as Stiles already knew and had known for ages, and the people he was closest to were all in the know as well… It just didn’t make sense to keep him out of it on purpose. And it was honestly starting to feel like they excluded Stiles in particular. 

Or was that the paranoia and low self-esteem talking? 

“I can’t believe Derek let the opportunity to fake date you pass him by,” Laura seemed to just now realize what Stiles had been talking about. “That boy needs to rediscover his ability to enjoy a good scheme. He used to have that, I know he did. Until… Well, let’s not get into that.” 

Clearly there was some kind of tragic backstory involved in Derek’s time in New York, but this was not the time to ask for information about that. If Derek was going to stick around on the West Coast this time, Stiles was eventually going to find out. Because they were basically pack, and pack kept each other’s secrets - except to other pack members, because the Hale sisters at least loved sharing embarrassing stories about various family and pack members. 

“So you’re saying I should use my charms to persuade him,” Stiles had to at least try. 

“If anyone could,” Laura reluctantly admitted, “it would be you. I give you my blessing, at least. But don’t needlessly toy with him, okay? He’s been taken advantage of too much already.” 

Yeah, this was getting really fucking delicate, and while Stiles really fucking wanted to get into the party already, because he was still fucking starving, that didn’t mean that he was down with messing with someone just to get access. That would be going too far. 

“Look, I’m looking for a way into this party,” Stiles was trying not to offend. “But that doesn’t mean that I’ll just use your brother. I mean, if he gets over his ridiculous excuses, I think we could have a lot of fun together. You know I could bring out the best in him. And I think he’s adorable. The bashfulness is a good look on him. But then again, everything is.” 

Maybe Stiles had gotten that feeling about Derek, that feeling that he could be something special if they just spent some time together. Maybe he was trying to respect that feeling and engineer some time together, even if it was just by trying to sneak closer to the pack and get himself caught by Derek another half a dozen times. Maybe he was just trying to live out his rom com dreams of having a fake date to a party. Or maybe it was all three. 

“If you hurt him,” Laura just had to say it. 

“You’ll rip my throat out with your teeth,” Stiles just nodded along. “Oh, hi Der-Bear.” 

Of course Derek was here now, somehow. Even though Stiles wasn’t close to the party. 

He’d decided not to approach for now, because he had to get the intel from Laura first, and he had to find a new entrance point anyway. So it was kind of… weird that wherever he went, Derek just happened to show up. He still wasn’t wearing a shirt, and he still looked vaguely uncomfortable, but he’d sought Stiles out nonetheless. 

“Who’s threatening you?” Derek was apparently about ready to attack someone on his behalf. 

“It’s just your sister pulling her Alpha-to-be shtick,” Stiles batted his eyelashes at Derek just a little bit. “That and she was giving me the shovel talk.” 

The flirting probably wasn’t even going to work, but he had to try. Because it made Derek blush and that was just adorable, and because it distracted him from figuring out that Stiles had just referenced that Laura was the future Alpha. Stiles really did not want Derek to get any more suspicious of him than he already was. 

“Why?” Derek seemed to think that was surprising. 

“Because I asked you on a date and you said no,” Stiles tried to look up at Derek from under his lashes, hoping it didn’t make him look demented. “I’m heartbroken, but your sister seems to think that I’d be the one hurting you. Derek, I’d never.” 

Okay, so maybe the look wasn’t working at all. But he’d tried. And he’d exaggerated his heartbreak for drama’s sake, hoping to get through to Derek.

“That’s what they all say,” Derek scoffed, turning his voice into a razor-sharp blade. 

And yet the underlying brittleness was still there. The blush on his cheeks was fading, but Derek was trying to seem harsh when he was actually just covering up the fragility of someone who was still slowly rebuilding himself. That made a stupid amount of sense, really. 

Which made him think that it was way past time to cut the bullshit and be honest already. 

“Look, dude,” Stiles thought it was about time to be done with the mystery. “I’m Stiles Stilinski, I’m the son of the Sheriff. I’m Scott McCall’s best friend. The one who actually figured out he was a werewolf. I know more about being a wolf than he does, but I’m just a fragile human. And even though I saved his life - and everyone else’s, because he would have torn people apart if they pissed him off - he’s too focused on his girlfriend. So he doesn’t even consider that I’m more pack than she is, and that I’d like to go and hang out with the family.” 

Did he do the stupid wave when he introduced himself? Yep, and it looked just as ridiculous as he’d remembered. Which was just really fucking great. 

“Why me?” Derek was insecure, and it hurt Stiles to see it. 

“Because you’re adorable,” Stiles was happy to start listing reasons. “Because you’re protective of your family, for very good reasons. Because you’re hilarious without even trying to be, and because you’re fucking gorgeous. Because I’ve heard a ton of stories about how awesome you are, and I’m hoping to find out that they’re all true. And because it’ll piss off Scott.” 

Whoops, that last bit got a little too real there. Not that the many reasons that Derek Hale was kind of awesome weren’t true - because they absolutely, completely and one hundred percent were - but the selfish side of him really just wanted to watch Scott’s face as Stiles walked into the party on the arm of a hot college graduate. Like there was something about Stiles that Scott had missed out on by being completely obsessed with Allison and nothing but Allison. 

But even if Stiles did get into the party, Scott probably wasn’t even going to look up. 

“He’s your best friend,” Derek was wearing his does not compute face. 

“Doesn’t mean I can’t piss him off,” Stiles shrugged to hide how sincere the anger was. “Look, I may or may not be feeling a little neglected, and we’re leaving for colleges in separate states soon. And he’s still spending every minute with Allison, when she’ll be going with him. And I’ll be at Caltech, all by myself. Because I don’t really have a lot of friends anyway.” 

Once again his mouth just got away from him, revealing far too much in the vulnerability department. Sure, it kind of balanced out because Derek had been stupidly vulnerable in front of Stiles as well - not with his words, but with his ridiculously expressive face. But the balance really did not make it any less scary for Stiles. He didn’t think that Derek was suddenly going to turn into a high school mean girl and call him a loser, but a part of him still wanted Derek to think that Stiles was someone worth getting to know. And this wasn’t actually helping. 

Instead he’d given Derek actual evidence that most people wouldn’t even bother getting to know Stiles. Or that they’d tried but backed out when they figured out the kind of person he was. 

“Alright,” Derek said, and then didn’t clarify. 

International Man of Mystery, Derek Hale. Sure, he picked that very moment for his expressive face to go carefully blank. Not even the epic brows were telling him something, and Stiles was pretty damn sure that he was doing it on purpose. Possibly to fuck with Stiles. 

That was going to make Laura very happy. 

“What?” Stiles gestured, trying to make him explain. 

“You’ll be my date,” Derek just dropped that bomb out of nowhere. “Just for the party.” 

Dude, this was a fucking trip. The best kind, the one where he was actually getting what he’d wanted the whole time, and a hot stranger was going to help make it happen. Well, Derek wasn’t actually a stranger because Stiles already knew his entire family and he’d seen embarrassing childhood pictures - camera flash from werewolf eyes and all. 

“Unless you still wanna date me after,” Stiles had to add that clause, naturally. 

“Unless that happens,” Derek actually agreed surprisingly easily. 

Did that mean that Derek was completely sure that it wasn’t going to happen? Because Stiles would happily take that challenge. No problem. 

* * *

Apparently Laura hadn’t hung up on Stiles while this conversation happened, that sneak. So she knew about the plan already, and once she’d stopped howling with laughter, she offered to start laying groundwork with the rest of the family. 

“You do realize that they can tell that we’re lying, right?” Derek went for the obvious question. 

“I know,” Stiles shrugged. “I’m not really trying to fool them as much as I’m trying to get into the party, finally get some food before my stomach starts to digest itself, and make Scott see that he doesn’t actually know everything about my life and he’ll miss out on so much more if he keeps forgetting that I exist the second Allison shows up. That and live out my rom com dreams.” 

Stiles could have sworn that there was a twitch at the corner of Derek’s mouth, which would mean that Stiles actually managed to make him smile. Stiles was going to use wishful thinking - which was super effective - and pretend that he’d actually achieved the impossible. 

“Scott can tell we’re lying too,” Derek reminded him. 

“Technically he can,” Stiles had already thought of this. “But Scott is prone to reacting emotionally and forgetting about his werewolf instincts - especially if I surprise him.” 

The look on Derek’s face showed exactly what he thought about how good of a werewolf that made Scott, and Stiles wanted to disagree but couldn’t. Because Scott wasn’t the best werewolf, because he was still determined that he didn’t want to be a werewolf and that he was going to find a cure someday and live happily ever after with his hunter girlfriend. 

Or well, fiance soon. Stiles was not going to be surprised if Scott had a ring somewhere, even though Melissa was going to kill him for trying to repeat his parents’ mistakes. 

“Alright, how’s your sappy in love face?” Stiles just wanted to know - because of reasons. 

That was when Derek Hale turned on the charm, and Stiles melted into a puddle. The werewolf actually smiled, and it was enough to power a small city - to light up the world even. He looked at Stiles with so much happiness emanating from him, his eyes crinkling a little with the smile, and his body language was suddenly so much more loose, more relaxed. 

It was basically sorcery, and Stiles couldn’t even with all of that. 

“Witchcraft,” Stiles gasped. 

“You’re just easy,” Derek immediately turned back to his sulky self. 

It was hard to decide which look he liked more, but eventually Stiles settled on the happy one - just the sincere version of it. Because just because he didn’t know Derek well enough to be able to tell the difference, didn’t mean that the real thing wasn’t a damn sight to behold. Stiles had never seen it, but he hoped he’d get the chance someday. Maybe. 

“Well, yeah,” Stiles shrugged. “No one is disputing that.” 

For the right person, and maybe even for the wrong one if they ever showed interest, Stiles was so very easy. But that was probably another one of those ‘too much information’ comments that Derek wasn’t going to be able to handle. 

“Let’s just go,” Derek was done being patient, apparently. 

“As you wish,” Stiles offered Derek his arm just to be a little extra about it. 

Derek didn’t take it, not right away. He just glared at it as if Stiles was going to take his arm back if he just looked at it angrily enough - which meant that he clearly didn’t know just how stubborn Stiles could be. He was sure as hell going to find out about it. And soon. 

Because Stiles just stood there, waiting for Derek to give in so that they could head to the party already - because Derek had been so very impatient before, and Stiles suddenly found that he had all the time in the world if it meant winning this stupid battle. He waited, and he waited, grinning smugly at Derek the whole time until Derek finally moved. Not to take Stiles’ arm, no, but to grab his hand and hold it in his. Because they were doing this Beatles-style apparently. 

Humming ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ under his breath, Stiles let himself get dragged closer and closer to the scent of delicious food, and closer and closer to the people who were supposed to be his pack but hadn’t actually allowed him to share this meal with them. Okay, so maybe he was feeling a little vindictive, and that just made him smile at them more. 

Because they clearly only half understood what was going on here. 

“Finally,” Laura greeted them. “I thought you’d never show up, Stiles. Der-Bear has been grumpy the whole time without you by his side.” 

Not technically a lie. Derek had been exceedingly grumpy, it just had nothing whatsoever to do with Stiles’ absence. Laura just managed to work around the opportunity to be caught in a lie, which kind of made her Stiles’ idol. He wanted to get better at that trick. 

“He was smiling at me before,” Stiles tried not to gloat about it too much. 

“You wanted me to flirt with you,” Derek was smirking now. “I think it worked.” 

Cora naturally had to roll her eyes at this, and Erica was just staring back and forth between Stiles and Derek as if that was going to help her suddenly make the connection. It sucked for her that there technically was no connection to be made. 

Boyd was the one person who’d seen through the display right away. Of course. 

“Anything you do works for me,” Stiles said, and immediately knew he’d probably just lied. 

Or not, apparently, because Laura appeared to be dying of laughter, while Derek was more flustered than Stiles had seen him in at least thirty minutes or so. Which definitely helped get both Erica and Cora on their side - apparently they liked it when Derek got embarrassed and adorably blush-y after stupidly sincere compliments. The only one who didn’t seem to like it was Derek, but he’d get over it if it meant that they had more people on their side now. 

“I should have set them up sooner,” Erica was mourning her missed matchmaking opportunity. 

“We found each other just fine without you,” Stiles grinned, because he was living his best life right now. “But we appreciate your good taste.” 

Stiles still wasn’t over his non-lie, because apparently it was true that everything Derek did worked for him. That was kind of embarrassing and something that he probably shouldn’t want to explore while they were surrounded by Derek’s family members. It seemed a private situation, something he’d better discuss with Derek, if he talked to anyone about it. 

He just wasn’t sure if Derek was ready to hear it yet. 

“I’ll try and keep Mom away from this disaster in the making,” Cora turned in the opposite direction, trying to locate their Alpha. “I make no promises about Uncle Peter, though.” 

Yes, not having Talia Hale show up in the middle of their con - shut up, it was totally a con and the closest thing that Stiles was going to get to living out his Leverage fantasies - would make it a whole lot easier to pull off. Because without her as a factor, all they had to do was wait for Scott to look away from Allison for a hot second and notice that not only was Derek back, but that he’d brought a very familiar date along with him. 

That was going to take anywhere from a minute to three hours. 

“Would he not play along?” Stiles just had to ask. 

“He would,” Laura had a grin on her face that told him there were only bad things ahead. “And then he would hit on you because you’re probably exactly his type, and seeing as you’re legal now and your Dad isn’t here… And then Derek would have to defend your honor, and that would just get really messy - and that’s without thinking of Scott’s potential involvement.” 

Look, was the hot guys fighting over him fantasy tempting? Absolutely. Was he tempted to get anywhere near creepy Uncle Peter? Hell fucking no. 

“Let’s steer clear,” Stiles nodded, stepping closer to Derek. 

He could totally hide behind those broad shoulders, right? 

Though hiding probably wasn’t going to get them noticed by Scott any time soon, so maybe he had to put on his metaphorical big boy pants and be prepared to get obvious. Now, he hadn’t exactly had the time to discuss boundaries with Derek, so he was just going to keep it simple and basically PG. A lot could be accomplished with just the suggestion of something more - that and Stiles’ big mouth and his inability not to drool over Derek. 

So he stepped even closer to Derek, and was surprised that Derek wrapped a strong arm around his waist. It wasn’t a particularly smooth move, but he hadn’t hesitated for that long. 

And it was an obvious move that drew attention to them. 

“Stiles?” Scott finally noticed. “Did you sneak in here?” 

Stiles would have been offended by the assumption if that hadn’t been his exact plan just hours before. Hours? Had it really been hours already? Time flew when plotting shenanigans. 

“I’m Derek’s plus one,” Stiles batted his eyelashes at Derek again. 

Scott was definitely having some trouble making sense of that, as he actually abandoned his cozy seat with Allison to come over to their odd little grouping of people. He had his vaguely constipated frowny face on, and he was storming over like this was a matter of life and death. 

Clearly, the plan was already working. 

“You and Derek?” Scott actually scoffed at that. 

“Who are you insulting here?” Derek thought it was time to interrupt. 

Was he going to be offended when Scott told him exactly how little he thought of Derek? Because Stiles was pretty sure that Scott was not about to say something about how Derek was an accomplished dude with a bachelor’s degree from NYU and a scholarship for grad school at UCLA (not to mention being attractive and loyal and all the things Stiles told him before), while Stiles was just a high school graduate who barely managed to get onto the beach without falling on his face. Scott was never going to see it that way. But Stiles did. 

“You,” Scott lashed out. “You’re clearly taking advantage of my best friend. He just wants to be part of the pack and you’re lonely and have no friends which means you’re using him.” 

Too far. That was way too far, and Stiles didn’t have to look at Laura to know that she was extremely offended and ready to attack Scott for even daring to think something like that, let alone be stupid enough to say it out loud and in front of her. Heck, Stiles was ready to do some light dismembering on Derek’s behalf after hearing that speech. 

Pack was basically ohana. And ohana meant that no one got left behind or insulted for having the bad taste to pretend to date Stiles. 

Stiles was pretty sure that was a direct quote from the Disney movie. 

“Scott, please,” Stiles immediately stepped in to defuse the situation. “Do you really think I’m naive enough to let myself be used? Also, I’m truly, truly flattered that you seem to think that I’m out of Derek’s league for some reason, but that’s just ‘cause we’re besties.” 

He totally got that, because part of being someone’s bestie was thinking the absolute best of them and while Stiles lovingly called Scott an idiot, he was also ready to throw down if anyone else even dared (except when they could say it as lovingly as he did). And he hadn’t been allowed to vet Allison in the way he’d wanted to, but unlike Scott she’d seen Star Wars and she had mad skills with a bow and with knives, so maybe she could actually even get close to being good enough for his best friend. It was going to take effort though. 

And maybe some presents to butter Stiles up a little, but that was not the point here. 

“You are out of my league,” Derek suddenly seemed to agree with Scott. 

“Der-Bear,” Stiles was having some trouble adjusting to that idea. “That’s ridiculous.” 

Derek and Scott agreeing on something was kind of a dream come true, but the fact that they’d chosen this topic? No, Stiles refused to accept that. Because he could accept that kind of delusion from Scott, but not from Derek, who’d basically been a stranger until a few hours ago. 

“No, it’s not,” Scott said, happily. 

“It’s not,” Derek immediately jumped on board. “Because all that stuff you said about me before... It’s nothing compared to what I could say about you in return.” 

When Stiles glanced to the side, just to check if they still had an audience, he discovered that Laura and Erica had somehow found the time to get snacks. They were treating this like a popcorn moment, even though they were actually carrying a plate piled full of food. Erica had apparently left Boyd to carry her drink though, cocktail umbrella included. Or maybe that was just Boyd’s drink - Stiles wasn’t going to judge him for it. 

He wished he had one of his own right about now.

“Go ahead then,” Stiles was just going to call Derek’s bluff. 

“You’re incredibly intelligent,” Derek apparently wasn’t even going to attempt to hold back. “And you would fight anyone for your friends, even if you were sure you would lose. You’re funny, both when you’re trying and when you’re not. Do you think Laura and Cora and even Mom never told me about you? They neglected to mention how gorgeous you are though.” 

Stiles kept a close eye on the wolves, because they’d make it very obvious if Derek was lying about any of this. When they failed to react in any kind of satisfying way, Stiles reluctantly concluded that Derek was actually telling the truth. About all of it. Mind-blowing. 

“You wanna date me,” Stiles gloated. “Kiss me and fuck me. Or just be fucked by me.” 

He was surprised to find out that those words fit exactly with the not quite song from the Sandra Bullock pageant movie. He was not surprised to find that while Scott made his ‘Stiles is being gross again’ face, Erica and Laura were eating it up - literally, still. Boyd was stoic as he sipped from the cocktail glass - hah! - and Derek? Derek was blushing again. 

“Yes,” he looked at Stiles head-on as he said that. 

“Alright,” Stiles started scrambling for what the hell he was supposed to say to that. “We’ll do all of those things. Not right away, maybe, and certainly not in front of this audience. But we can start with dinner. Right now, because I’m fucking starving.” 

And because Derek was as good a real date as he was a fake one, he immediately dragged Stiles in the direction of the food. 

Mission accomplished. Well, that and so much more… 

“Stiles, is that you?” 

Great, that was definitely Talia Hale. Oh well, seeing as he was now legitimately Derek’s date, she might even let him stay. Maybe. 


End file.
